


The Reaper

by Bolontiku



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Death, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 07:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21316432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolontiku/pseuds/Bolontiku
Summary: Mortals have always been afraid of what they do not know. A Reaper is not your enemy, but a companion.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	The Reaper

**Author's Note:**

> Mentions of death, angst(?)  
So, I wrote this for Halloween and just now getting around to posting.

It wasn’t lonely.

Not like mortals thought it would be.

He understood that they thought it would be.

After all, from the beginning of time they had huddled together, terrified of the dark. 

Afraid of what they couldn’t understand.

**

“Will, it hurt?”

“Are you hurting?” he asked.

The child blinked and shook his head as he held out a hand. “But my mama..”

They looked over at the woman, she clutched at the child, tears and sorrow, “she will hurt, but it will ease.”

“Can she come with me?”

He kneeled down, voice softening as did his blue eyes, “not now. When it is her time, how about you come along?”

The child smiled as he gripped his hand, both walking away, “... thought it would be darker…”

He hummed, they all did.

**

They were all afraid of him. Though, in honesty he was there so they wouldn’t be afraid. 

So, that when they stopped breathing, when they woke and saw what they would be leaving behind they would not be afraid. So they wouldn’t get confused and lose their way. For the living moved on and they would not. 

So, he waited patiently. 

Quietly.

With no feeling of hatred.

Even though it was thrown in his face over and over. 

Grief.

Denial.

Pleading.

He waited patiently.

He was good at patient.

**

“Will you be by his side?”

The question stirred something in him. It jolted and sent emotions he had long since set aside flaring out within him. 

She was speaking to herself of course. He was being dramatic.

Her fiance lay in the bed unmoving. Traffic accident.

“Please tell me you’ll explain it to him when he sees you?” she spoke again, not looking up at him.

He didn’t move. 

Mortals prayed. It was nothing out of the ordinary, that is what this was.

“I can see you. I’ve seen your kind all my life,” her breath hitched, turned ragged, a sob broke past her lips as she clung to his hand, eyes ringed in red. “I’m so glad you’ll be by his side..!!” 

He watched as her face screwed up in anguish, the strength of her pain slamming into him. 

“His name is Kevin,” she looked at him, meeting his gaze. 

Still he did not move, this couldn’t be happening.

Honey brown eyes stared up at him, she had bags under them to go along with the redness. How long had she been here?

“Kevin Francis, he goes by Murphy sometimes cause of Murphy’s law- you know?” she went on, voice cracking even as she tried to offer him a smile. “Anything that can, will go wrong?” she frowned, eyes welling up with tears again, “that’s wrong…? Nnngh,” she dissolved into tears yet again. “He.. he loved me!” she gasped, the words almost a cry-almost, she was curling in on herself, clinging to his hand, “that counts for something… he deserves to go to the white city okay? Anyone that can love me…”

“Murphy. We know that.” 

Why had he spoken? Her gaze was on him again.

She sucked in her breath, a small laugh left her. Her trembling hand ran through her hair. 

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“What do you call her?” he asked, he knew her given name.

Murphy smiled as the machine beside him started to cry out. Or was that her? “Pumpkin. She’s my pumpkin, always uses that hand soap. I love her so much I could eat her up.” He stepped away with the man in black, “are you death?”

“A reaper, we are here to accompany you, so that you are not alone.”

Murphy smiled, “she always said that. Can she see me?”

He looked back and shook his head.

“Ah! She always wondered if you called yourselves, Death, or had individual names? C-can you answer that for her?”

“You knew of her ability to see us?”

He nodded, “she always said she was cursed, but just cause I can’t see something doesn’t mean she didn’t. Women have the power to see what men don’t.” he shrugged as he followed the man. “What is your name? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“James.”

“James,” he grinned, “I’m Murph!” he offered grinning brightly.

“Are you not worried about her?”

“Should I be?”

James shook his head. “Not today.”

**

Pumpkin.

She stared at the little pumpkin. The hand soap was her favorite. 

He liked to bury his face in her neck. Nibble at her neck. “I love you so much I could eat you up!”

She’d squeal. There would be a quick struggle that ended in kisses, hugs, sometimes more.

It was the happiest time of her life.   
“Are you here for me?” she asked quietly, a cup of coffee sat on the counter next to her. 

“No.” A pause, the air stilling, “and yes.”

She blinked slowly, clearing her throat and reaching for the coffee. “Are you not needed somewhere else?”

“I am somewhere else.” He answered.

“Ah, well,” there was a loss for words. She took a sip of her coffee. “I’ve never spoken to one of you before.”

“Has it been long since that day?”

Pumpkin opened her mouth and closed it, anger filling her then sadness, grief overwhelming her. “It’s been a couple weeks… d-did he? Was he okay?” she asked looking at him.

James watched her study him, those honey brown eyes slowly taking him in. “He was.”

She nodded, lips pursing, hair falling disheveled around her face. She seemed pale, tired, “are you curious about me?”

“I am.”

“What?”

“You are not afraid of me.”

Pumpkin shook her head softly and moved slowly to the chair in her kitchen. “No, you, you’re the most natural thing in the world. Like breathing. I’ve lived all my life seeing your kind.”

“Reapers.”

“Reapers,” she answered, letting the word fall from her like a discovery. 

He supposed it was for her and he remembered the one. “James.”

She looked at him startled a bit. “I-wh-what?”

“My name is James.”

The kitchen was quiet, as they stayed there staring at one another. The world outside moving along. Much like the last two weeks of her life without Murphy. Everything kept moving.

Time stayed still for no man, yet here she was staring into the curious cerulean blue eyes of a reaper, and it elt as if time had come to a stop for him, here in her tiny little kitchen. 

“Call me Pumpkin.”


End file.
